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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23571472">If I Could Save Time in a Bottle</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anne_Fairchild/pseuds/Anne_Fairchild'>Anne_Fairchild</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Jack &amp; Drac [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dracula (TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Devotion, Fear, Grief/Mourning, Hopelessness/Helplessness, Insecurity, M/M, Naked Cuddling, Pandemics, Severely Ill, medical research</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:28:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,896</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23571472</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anne_Fairchild/pseuds/Anne_Fairchild</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by current events of course. Dracula and Jack Seward are happy in their life together.  They learn not to take anything for granted.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Count Dracula/Jack Seward</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Jack &amp; Drac [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1696762</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>If I Could Save Time in a Bottle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Life had been good for Jack Seward and Count Dracula, or Jack &amp; Drac as Zev called them. The name invariably made Jack smile or roll his eyes, and caused Dracula to grunt in mild annoyance. He’d gotten used to Zev by now, though. He’d realized that Jack needed a friend and that Zev was both harmless to their relationship and genuinely fond of Jack and Jack of him, so he tolerated the quirky, awkward young man.</p><p>Other than Zev, Dracula had lost count of what else he tolerated, endured or no longer did for Jack’s sake. Of course, he was well aware of the things Jack accepted in him, too. He acknowledged it wasn’t a one-sided series of compromises.</p><p>If Jack absorbed some life lessons and knowledge of strategy, such as when to show your strength and when not to, Dracula knew he had learned far more from Jack than Jack had from him. He had opened Jack up to a life no longer lived in fear, and had given him a sense of self-worth and shown him that he was worthy of love. But Jack had shown Dracula what it was to be human, and that being human didn’t mean you weren’t strong or would necessarily lose the battle. Jack had shown him there needn’t be a battle at all, most of the time. Life didn’t have to be about winning and losing, crushing all opponents, or staying in control by intimidation. Jack had in fact shown him that there were even rewards for not being in control at times, notably in the bedroom. And of course, because of Jack the vampire now knew what being loved felt like. It was thanks to Jack that he had developed genuine feelings at all, rather than continuing to assume a faux affect of what those around him expected. He had learned to regard people as people, as individuals, and to appreciate individual personalities. </p><p>He could at last appreciate beauty in the world, and kindness and innocence. He was acutely aware that it was Jack’s innate caring for those around him which had set him free emotionally.</p><p>He found that after they’d been together a while he could actually speak intimately to Jack. He could say things, admit to things that he’d never been able to articulate before and wouldn’t have even if he could. Jack had a way of drawing things out of him, quietly and without drama, and without expressing shock or disbelief no matter what he revealed. This of course led him to do it again and he found that the more it happened, the more Jack would share his own feelings. It was healing, and they both had desperately needed healing.</p><p>It all happened in the sanctuary of their bedroom. The room was large and comfortably fitted out thanks to Jack, with a fireplace that was often lit, day or night. The flames warmed Jack’s body and Dracula’s soul, both having lived without light in different ways for so many years. Once they were settled there, whether it was for the night or for a long, renewing Sunday, neither of them had to leave the room. </p><p>Jack had bought a small fridge and a microwave and put it in the bedroom so that if he was hungry or thirsty he could be satisfied in situ. After he’d done this, Dracula put two and two together and realized that Jack didn’t want him wandering the large house alone, without him. He had a fear that something would happen to him, that someone would break in to harm him, to kidnap him or try to stake him if Jack wasn’t there beside him. He didn’t want to let the vampire out of his sight. Rather than confront Jack over his fears, Dracula said nothing. It was a very small issue, and the important thing was that it reassured Jack.</p><p>Jack managed to reassure him nearly every day by words, touch and gesture. Dracula, who had had to force himself to accept this very open expression of love and affection early on, now couldn’t imagine it not being a part of their life. It made him happy; Jack made him happy.  He’d experienced many emotions in his existence, few of them positive. Real happiness came to him through Jack alone. When he’d first sought only to possess him as a plaything, he had no idea of what real love was, or why it was important to anyone. Jack was the embodiment of the answer.</p><p>They’d been together a little more than six years. Jack had assumed the directorship of the Jonathan Harker Foundation as Zoe Helsing’s will, revised just hours before the fateful meeting between the three of them, instructed. The Foundation now concentrated on research involving all diseases of the blood, including his own polycythemia.  Jack did his own research as Dracula had asked him to, and had access to a supply of donor blood sufficient to supplement his lover’s diet, since contrary to Zoe’s prediction Jack’s blood wasn’t enough to keep the vampire strong and healthy.</p><p>Beyond getting all of that set up, Dracula wanted to lighten Jack’s emotional burden, and to guide him away from being a slave to the Foundation or the laboratory. He wanted Jack to enjoy all the pleasures life had to offer. He’d insisted on their taking an extended trip to Europe that combined good food and wine, culture and history, along  with nights of lovemaking that ranged from hunger to laughter, but were always infused with passionate tenderness. They went to Romania of course, and Dracula did his best to give Jack an idea of what life was like when he was alive.</p><p>“It was a barbaric, cruel time and all of my family and everyone I knew were of the same cloth, I think you say. Strength and brutality earned respect and fear, as they were meant to. If others didn’t fear you, you were soon dead. I wanted to survive. I can’t really say much else that you would be able to understand,” Dracula shrugged.</p><p>“You love art, and architecture, and beauty,” Jack reminded him. “I think ‘you’ have always been in here,” he kissed Dracula’s chest over his heart, “even if you weren’t aware of it then.” It was something the vampire wanted to believe, that he was more than what circumstances had forced him to be and do, so Jack’s suggestion pleased him.</p><p>“Did you ever love anyone, when you were alive?” Jack asked, kissing his way over the broad chest. It was late afternoon, after a day of walking on the beach in the sun and snogging in a secluded spot behind a large rock near the water’s edge.“Did you love your wives - your real, living ones?”</p><p>“Not in the way people love in the modern world, no. There was duty, and loyalty, and carnal lust. There was filial respect. But what you do to me, Jackie - no, I have never loved anyone like this before. And no one has ever loved me as you do.”</p><p>Jack smiled. Dracula had still never said the words “I love you,” but he had said it in a dozen other ways. It wasn’t like he had any doubt.</p><p>“Well, in case no one’s ever told you before, you’re a hot, sexy man,” Jack growled softly, sucking a nipple into his mouth. His lover sighed in pleasure, stroking his hair, and laughed.</p><p>“What is ‘sexy’ to you about me?” he asked curiously. </p><p>“Everything,” Jack smiled. “You’re so tall, there’s more of you to touch and hold,” he responded, running his hands down the vampire’s torso. “The hair on your body, much where I have little.” His hands brushed teasingly over Dracula’s hairiness, down to the coarse thatch which crowned his genitals, making the vampire tingle and spark with desire. “Your voice. Your hands - such big hands, so good at turning me on but gentle too. I feel something’s missing when you’re not near enough for me to touch you. Your cock, as big and as beautiful as the rest of you, and only mine,” he sighed, stroking the object under discussion.</p><p>“But I can’t think what draws you to me, or what ever did,” Jack murmured softly, curiosity in his own voice.</p><p>“Zoe knew. You will think it very strange, but - the pureness of your soul, <em>comoara</em> <em>mea</em>.  I didn’t know or understand that at first, but she did. You are simply everything I’m not, everything I never valued until I knew you - not met you, but <em>knew</em> you. Only wanting your body, wanting to control you - I was a fool,” Dracula admitted. “It shocked me how much I came to need you to choose me willingly. How much I came to need you, in all ways. She was right, you are my redemption. But you know, you must know, you’re so much more. I’ve said it before - I don’t want to be in the world any longer if you are not. It isn’t just something I say, it’s true.” </p><p>Jack smiled, reaching to stroke Dracula’s face.</p><p>“I’m skinny and awkward and massively fucked up and I always will be those things,” he mumbled. “I’m needy, and not all that great in bed. You’re strong, sophisticated and always at ease, fearless, and an amazing lover. What the fuck do I give you?” he asked softly.</p><p>Dracula took Jack’s head in his hands and forced him to look at him.</p><p>“You give me exactly what I need and want, Jackie. The emotion that I feel from you, I know is real.  Your body is slighter than mine, yes. As that fairy tale about the big bad wolf, whom I am sometimes equated with, would have it, all the better to hold you, my dear. You fit in my arms very well. It’s my nature to want to protect and shield you. You feel good here. You feel right,” he responded, hugging Jack to him.</p><p>“How you move and the way you speak? I don’t see what you imagine I do or others do. I only see my pretty Jackie. You are very beautiful, you know. I have known thousands in my existence. Very few were as beautiful as you, <em>comoara</em>. It gives me pleasure to simply drink your beauty. Your voice never fails to soothe me, because it is a part of you.</p><p>“There is a difference between fearlessness and bravery, Jackie. Being fearless only means you have nothing to lose. Being brave is much more difficult, and you are one of the bravest people I have known. How much you have overcome! I respect that.</p><p>“As a lover, you give me what I’ve never had in all my existence. You care about <em>me</em>.  You make love to <em>me</em>.  I have taken thousands, but you are the only one who lies with me because of your own feelings. Every day you make me feel loved. I never expected I would experience that. You really are my treasure. Stop feeling inferior and inadequate, and try to accept that you’re what I need and want, hm?”</p><p>“Thank you,” Jack smiled softly . “I love you too,” he teased, pausing briefly to kiss the tip of the vampire’s nose.</p><p> He went quiet then, concentrating on readying Dracula’s cock to possess him. Contrary to his self-deprecating remark, he was by now a skillful lover. By observation he’d learned exactly what pleased Dracula, all the little, subtle things that triggered the sighs and moans he no longer muted.</p><p>“Now,” he whispered, reaching for the lube and applying it to his opening. When Jack had begun to do it himself  a week after he’d first taken him and ever since, it had served as a powerful turn-on for Dracula. It was both a reminder of the abuse Jack had overcome and even more the strength of Jack’s desire to be possessed in this way by him. It was a gift of himself still, after all this time.</p><p>Dracula pulled Jack back onto all fours and slipped into him. He moaned, and whimpered. </p><p>“Ohh yess,” he sighed, relaxed and open. The low, quiet grunting sounds he made with each thrust echoed in Dracula’s head and he experienced the familiar combination of tenderness and arousal Jack always incited in him. He rose onto his haunches and brought Jack with him so that he was positioned back against his thighs.  He wrapped his arms around Jack and held him, lightly nipping his neck and shoulders. One hand teased his nipples before it descended to pull his cock in a rhythm that matched his own thrusts.</p><p>“Fuck me,” Jack gasped.</p><p>“Fuck <em>me</em>,” Dracula whispered in his ear, licking and biting it. Thus challenged, Jack chortled softly and began to move, repeatedly impaling himself on his lover’s cock. He was close to coming when Dracula withdrew, guided him down to the bed and entered him again, face to face.</p><p>This was heaven to Jack, who didn’t realize it was pretty much the same to Dracula. Their bodies touched chest to chest, almost in embrace. They could look into each other’s eyes and see the honest emotions there. They could kiss and stroke each other; they could love each other without any disguises.</p><p>“All the way, Big Guy. All the way,” Jack encouraged, scratching the vampire lightly with his nails, stroking down the long muscular back. Dracula lay his forehead against Jack’s, hands in his hair, plundering his mouth. He was lost in the intense emotions Jack never failed to foster in him. He’d do anything for Jack, give him anything and so he did, releasing deep inside him. Jack groaned, clasping both arms and legs tight around the vampire, holding onto him.</p><p>“It’s all right now,” he sighed, petting the vampire’s hair and stroking his cheek. His assurance was for both of them, and Dracula knew it. He was very unlike the vampire he’d been for 500 years when he made love to Jack, and it took a while before he really came back from the intense emotions he felt. Jack had sensed this from the beginning and was quietly reassuring when he needed it. He had a sixth sense regarding Dracula’s emotional needs, and cared for them without the vampire being aware of it much of the time. </p><p>“<em>Comoara</em> <em>mea</em>,” he breathed. “My treasure.” He gently loosened Jack’s limbs from around him, and bent to apply hand and mouth to his half-erect organ. Sighs and whimpers were sweet music made by the instrument he played. Jack made a contented, peaceful sound as he came, his lover gently sucking him soft, loathe to lose a drop of his love.</p><p>“How long before we have to dress for dinner?” Jack asked after a few moments as his breathing began to return to normal.</p><p>“A couple of hours. But we don’t have to, we could order them to bring our dinner here,” Dracula reminded him, kissing his face softly.</p><p>“No, I’m okay going out. I like being with you in public and making everyone else jealous,” Jack grinned.  The vampire gave a very unsophisticated snort. “But a little snuggle and a nap would be nice.”</p><p>“With you, always,” Dracula agreed.  He drew the sheet over them and pulled Jack into his arms. Within minutes, Jack sighed in deep contentment. His vampire was, as he always did after they’d made love, emitting soothing vibrations onto him, his vampiric purr. It went right through him, warming him, and that and his post-orgasmic state sent him to sleep very quickly.<br/>            <br/>                                                                                       ***</p><p>After reluctantly returning home, life back in England assumed a routine. Jack’s work at the Foundation, his occasional talk to professional bodies about the Foundation’s research, romantic dinners, all too short weekends away, and of course very satisfying evenings. It would likely have continued that way for many happy years, except for one thing. A plague had come upon the land - upon all the lands.</p><p>The first news emerged from the Mongolian steppes, then from Mother Russia itself as it spread. A previously unseen illness that was proving to be deadly indeed. Whether it originated in nature, the food chain or in animals continued to be uncertain. The only thing that was certain was that death followed in its wake. By the time it began to appear around the world, the mortality rate in Mongolia and central Russia and the larger cities was sixty percent, a chilling statistic.</p><p>The first symptoms were tiredness and chills, followed by a telltale itchy, burning rash which appeared on the back and chest. As the rash bloomed, so did fever to as high as 40° C. Fatigue became immobilized exhaustion. There were muscle aches and the eyes became painfully sensitive to light. Ultimately circulation was affected, with blood not able to circulate efficiently throughout the body. If this grew serious enough, the major organs began to shut down and the heart went into arrhythmias and then ceased to beat at all. Those who survived did so because their fever broke before organ failure took serious hold, allowing the body to begin to slowly repair itself. Recovery took many weeks and it was uncertain if any had actually had a complete recovery in terms of being fully their before-virus selves physically. Those with any pre-existing medical issues had only a 30% survival rate.</p><p>As hospitals began to be overwhelmed, urgent calls went out from the government for doctors, as a high percentage of healthcare workers were victims. At first Jack ramped up his work, offering the Foundation’s laboratories to work on whatever they could, vaccine or treatment. But he felt guilty about not being on the front lines as the situation worsened. </p><p>He came home late one night a couple of months in, looking completely exhausted. Dracula insisted he have a hot bath immediately and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Jack put up little resistance as he warmed the bathroom and the tub, undressing him and maneuvering him to soak in the steaming water. It really did feel heavenly. He was bathed and wrapped in warm towels and then escorted to bed in front of a blazing fire. Dracula brought him a cup of hot tea and a takeaway pastie and he inhaled every bite. He didn’t remember the last time he’d eaten.</p><p>“Thank you. I really needed that,” he acknowledged, pulling at Dracula’s shirt to get him to lie on the bed with him. This was going to be very difficult. He was tired and aching and he wanted to sleep, but first he had to say something.</p><p>“I report for duty tomorrow at St Thomas’ Hospital, on the ward.” Dracula stiffened, and stared at him.</p><p>“<em>What</em>?  You don’t need to do that. The Foundation is doing all it can - you are doing all you can - without putting yourself in such direct danger. It’s madness!” the vampire responded, aghast. </p><p>“But I’m not doing all I can personally. I don’t like that.”</p><p>“You have a..a condition which makes you even more susceptible to this terrible plague. It’s asking to die!” Dracula insisted. Jack could hear the panic in his voice and it hurt, as he’d known it would. He took the vampire’s hand between his and spoke, willing himself to be calm.</p><p>“I know. But this, what’s happening, is not something I can ignore or shirk responsibility for. Listen to me, love,” Jack pleaded. “You know I’ve felt useless all my life. I really haven’t contributed anything to society. I am a doctor. This is something I can do for my fellow man, for the best of motives. It’s something that will give me personal peace. It really is something I need to do,” he tried to explain.</p><p>“Your fellow man is more important to you than I am.” The statement was flat, but with anger behind it.</p><p>Jack had known it would be like this and thought he’d be prepared for it, but he wasn’t after all. He ducked his head and started to cry. “Please, don’t make me choose,” he whispered. </p><p>Dracula reacted as if he’d been slapped. The misery and guilt in Jack’s voice tortured him.</p><p>“Jackie, Jackie - is there no other way?” he rasped, pulling Jack into his arms, trying to comfort him. Jack clung to him. He felt tears against his throat.</p><p>“I know I’m selfish - why would I not be? What is humanity to me compared to the thought of losing you?” The vampire rocked in anguish, trying and failing to comfort either of them.</p><p>“I wouldn’t be the Jackie you care for if I didn’t do this.”</p><p>“I know,” Dracula sighed in surrender, pressing kisses on Jack everywhere he could reach.</p><p>The new routine was brutal on both of them. Jack worked 12-14 hour shifts and emerged from the hospital every day hollow-eyed, pale and utterly exhausted, having often neither eaten nor rested during his shift. Dracula insisted on meeting him every day and driving him home. He did his best to keep Jack sufficiently nourished and hydrated, and feeling cared for. Waiting for him each day was torture. Would this be the day he came home ill? Jack grew thinner, though that was hardly possible. His beautiful features grew haggard, his skin dull and his spirit frighteningly tired.</p><p>Of the days he didn’t work at the hospital, Dracula insisted, tolerating no protest, that he spend one day in bed without thought and without lifting a finger. The remaining days he spent a few hours at the Foundation before the vampire badgered him home. He’d begun stockpiling things in the bedroom fridge and in the medicine cabinet - IV fluids, and medications, needle and tubing, insisting that his lover learn how to administer them. There were medications pertinent to all the symptoms of the damned disease. Dracula observed all of this with mounting apprehension but could say nothing. Since he now refused to feed from Jack at all, he’d also been shown how to take his blood via IV if it ever became necessary. There were now more units of donor blood than he’d ever needed to make use of before. Everything about what he saw Jack doing frightened him, but he couldn’t fault his preparedness. It was Jack still trying to look after both of them for as long as he was able and had access to the resources.</p><p>One night late Jack’s mobile rang, and he picked it up, looked at the caller ID and took the phone out into the hallway, leaving Dracula feeling very uneasy. When he returned he looked frightened. He lay the phone on the bedside table and crawled back into bed, curling tightly against the vampire.</p><p>“What is it? Tell me.”</p><p>“Zev’s boyfriend is dead.” He shivered, terrified for his friend.</p><p>“Is Zev all right?”</p><p>“None of us is all right. God, I want it all to disappear as if it had never been. No matter what we do, it doesn’t get better. No one is safe,” he moaned.</p><p>No one, Dracula thought, except me. For the first time, he despised his eternal half-existence - the life of a coward, as Zoe had deduced.</p><p>“Then stay here with me. Don’t go back out there again,” he pleaded.</p><p>“I can’t do that. I can’t. Oh God, I’m so tired,” Jack whimpered. There was nothing more Dracula could do except to hold him and try to whisper words of comfort in his ear until he fell into a fitful, unhappy doze.</p><p>A little more than a week later, Jack arrived home several hours early in a hospital car.  He stumbled in the door like a zombie, eyes glistening with tears and red from crying.</p><p>“Jackie, what’s happened?,” Dracula demanded. “You frighten me.” He led Jack to a sofa and poured him a drink, which he placed in his hands and then made him swallow.  Jack choked a little on the liquor and began to cry again. He allowed Dracula to hold him, but he seemed in a sort of trance or in shock, his gaze far away and terrible.</p><p>“Zev is dead. He died in my arms and I couldn’t do one damned thing to stop it,” he wailed.  “God dammit, he never hurt a fly and he was always there for me. He loved me, and I was a lousy friend, the doctor who couldn’t save him. Shit. SHIT!” Jack exploded, rising and moving angrily about the room, tossing magazines and papers on the floor with a sweep of his arm, beating his fists and his head against the mantel as Dracula watched in alarm. He rose and caught Jack’s arm as he was about to toss his glass to the floor. As Dracula took the glass from him, his knees buckled. He was caught before he hit the floor, taken upstairs and laid on the bed.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Jackie. You were as good a friend to him as anyone could have been - as good as he would have allowed anyone to be. He knew you cared about him. You couldn’t help it if you didn’t love him in the way he loved you,” the vampire reasoned, kissing Jack’s forehead and rubbing his back.</p><p>“It <em>hurts</em>,” Jack moaned.</p><p>“I know,” Dracula soothed.</p><p>“Do you - really?” Jack looked at him accusingly. He inhaled sharply and stiffened at the black, intense look that came into Dracula’s eyes.</p><p>“You ask me that, when you know I’m in fear for you every single day you leave this house? You won’t listen, you won’t keep yourself safe, and you care more for those you treat than you care for me, because they have won you, Jack. And I can’t do a damn thing about that either. I’m as helpless as you are. You don’t even see how much I fear, how much I hurt for you and for myself, because you’re lost to Them, all the unknown Thems out there,” Dracula hissed. He let go of Jack and moved away from him, frustrated and wounded.</p><p>His outburst seemed to reconnect Jack to the here and now for the first time since he’d arrived home. </p><p>“I’m sorry,” he whispered, pressing his face to Dracula’s bicep. “I’m unforgivably blind, and selfish. And I’m going to be selfish again now. Make love to me. Please,” he breathed. Dracula turned to him in surprise.</p><p>“You can’t possibly - you’re in shock and pain, and you’re exhausted. You can’t want - “ the vampire shook his head.</p><p>“I need you very much right now. I’m deadly serious. Please, if you care for me as much as you say,” Jack begged.</p><p>Dracula closed his eyes and nodded silently.  He did understand. Jack would mourn Zev, the two of them would heal their anger and despair with each other, and neither of them knew when, or if, they would make love again anytime soon.</p><p>They were slow and tender with each other. This had little to do with physical passion, it was their bodies saying I love you in the simplest way they could under the circumstances. There was no possession, no taking, only mutual relief and comfort. Afterwards, Jack curled into Dracula, head under his chin, shivering slightly. The vampire pulled the duvet up snuggly around him, petting his hair.</p><p>“It’s all right, <em>iubițel</em>, we are good,” Dracula soothed.</p><p>“That was beautiful,” Jack murmured, kissing the hollow of his lover’s collarbone. “I’m sorry. I just sort of..crashed, I guess. What I said - you know I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry to make you so upset. It will come to an end one day - or the world will and then none of us will have any worries I suppose. I don’t want to leave you either, love. I don’t want to die. We’ll just do what we can.”</p><p>“Yes,” Dracula agreed with a sigh, “we will.” There was nothing else to do.</p><p>It was another two tense, anxious weeks before Dracula received a call in the late afternoon.</p><p>“I’m bringing some things home from the Foundation. Can you meet me outside in about ten minutes to help me carry it all inside?”</p><p>He agreed, but was puzzled. Today Jack was at the hospital. He wasn’t due to be at the Foundation for another two days. When he arrived and opened the boot of the car, Dracula knew. It was full of medical supplies and an entire large cooler of donor blood and IV bags. He wasn’t going to help Jack carry it upstairs, he was going to take it all there himself, after he carried Jack upstairs.</p><p>When their eyes met, Jack knew he didn’t need to say anything. He supposed he looked like shit. Icy fear settled in Dracula’s stomach as he lay Jack on the bed.</p><p>“I’ll be back as quickly as I can,” he promised. Jack nodded.</p><p>“Not going anywhere.” </p><p>After three trips, everything was in the bedroom and Jack told him what it all was for and where it needed to go. When everything was taken care of, Dracula sat on the bed and looked at him.</p><p>“Why aren’t you in hospital?”</p><p>“Come here, and listen carefully. I don’t know how long I’ll have before this thing really hits and I won’t be able to talk to you. I don’t have much strength or energy, so please just let me speak,” Jack whispered. His skin had a gray cast, and his eyes were dull and red-rimmed.</p><p>Dracula moved closer and took his hand. “I’m listening, <em>comoara</em>.”</p><p>“Not in hospital because..it’s not a good place to be right now. It’s scary and loud and..I want to be with you whatever happens. Whether I live or whether I die, I just want you, no one and nothing else. We have everything here the hospital could offer, there isn’t anything more. I know that’s scary, and I’m sorry to put this on you, but I need you. I’ll have to depend on you, but I know you can handle it. You’re a warlord after all,” Jack smiled faintly.</p><p>“Oh Jackie, no. No,” Dracula groaned. Jack knew he wasn’t refusing, but trying to deny the reality.</p><p>“There is a chance you know. Thirty percent I’ll make it. Never been much of a gambler, but no choice now.”</p><p>“Which of the units of blood is the one I am to have if - “</p><p>“Hey, there is that 30%, remember? I’m betting on the two of us. Besides, if it should happen, you could just feed from me.”</p><p>Dracula looked as if he was about to be sick. “I would never - I could never - NO! Did you not bring it, then?” he asked fearfully.</p><p>Jack squeezed his hand. “It’s the one with the heart on the bag. I did promise after all.”</p><p>Dracula visibly shuddered. They had agreed long ago that if Jack were to die, the vampire would have access to a unit of blood that was poisoned with a fatal disease, so he could follow soon after. Now Jack was suggesting that if he died, Dracula could simply drink his tainted blood for the same result. The idea that he could possibly feed from Jack’s lifeless body utterly revulsed him.</p><p>“I’m..uneasy,” the vampire admitted, when his actual emotion was fear. “I might kill you if I don’t know-“</p><p>Jack shook his head. “Don’t think like that. Stay calm for me and do as I’ve shown you. We both know you can. Just do what you need to do. My body will either be able to fight enough to help you, or it won’t. Nothing will be your fault, whatever happens. I’ve never needed you more than I do now, love. You can do this. It’s using skills you already have in a new way, that’s all.</p><p>“There’s some bone broth in a container in the kitchen. Heat it and bring it to me, and some tea. Maybe I’ll feel better after that. Light the fire first,” Jack shivered. The chills had arrived.</p><p>Dracula wasn’t just frightened, he was simultaneously terrified and horrified that his worst nightmare was coming to pass. The only thing that kept him going was Jack’s need, and trust in him. He would be all that was keeping Jack alive. What if he failed, as he had so badly failed in life?</p><p>He put Jack to bed, then went to fix what he’d asked for. By the time he brought it upstairs Jack was dozing, but he roused enough to consume most of it. His hand already shook with the effort of holding a mug steady.</p><p>“You’ll have to feed me if I can’t do it myself. And later, just use the IV. Try not to be upset. It’s going to happen. We’re prepared,” Jack reminded him.</p><p>No, the voice in Dracula’s head screamed, we aren’t. How could anyone be prepared for this? It was only the beginning of going through the motions while hiding his fear and dread, torn between getting Jack what he needed and leaving him alone even for a few minutes.</p><p>“Hold me,” Jack pleaded softly. When he lay in Dracula’s arms he gave an audible sigh of relief. “Whatever happens, this is what I need more than anything. Your arms around me are as effective as any medicine in helping me fight this - in giving me a reason to fight. Believe it, because it’s true. It’ll be true even when I can no longer tell you.”</p><p>After about 48 hours the chills began to turn to fever, and the rash started to appear. It was obvious that Jack was very uncomfortable.</p><p>“My skin feels..crawly. Itches but hurts if I scratch it. So tired. Talking..difficult. Everything hurts. Everything.” The explanations came in increasingly short bouts of wakefulness, delivered breathless with the effort of speech. Dracula wanted to urge him not to talk, yet desperately needed to keep hearing his voice for as long as he could.</p><p>Dracula was rigid, as Jack had instructed, in forcing the paracetamol on him every four hours. He could still swallow the pills for now, but there was liquid for when he was no longer able. Jack was restless. The rash was coming out strongly and was more distressing. His face was flushed and hot, and he moaned or whined softly in continuous discomfort. He refused nourishment because he was so miserable. He’d said the pain of the rash was like shingles. When the vampire looked it up, it sounded very unpleasant.</p><p>Dracula sat and read the instructions Jack had typed out for him, and decided to try the steroid cream on the rash.  He got Jack out of bed and had him sit backwards in a chair, resting his head and arms on the back, so he could gently apply it everywhere and Jack wouldn’t then have to lie back down and start the itching and pain again, for as long as he was strong enough to sit in the chair. Dracula used the opportunity, as the pain relief began to take effect, to coax him to eat and drink something. Jack managed a faint smile.</p><p>“You’re good at this,” he rasped, taking Dracula’s hand, kissing it and cupping the palm to his face. "You’re helping. You’re doing fine, don’t worry."</p><p>“Is there anything else I can do, Jackie?” the vampire pleaded.</p><p>“Not really. ‘s all right, love. Not much anyone can do.  Does help a little. Really."  When he fell asleep on his folded arms, Dracula took him back to bed.</p><p>The following day Jack was more difficult to rouse, and largely silent. When Dracula took his temperature, he was alarmed at how the number had climbed from the day before. His body was very warm, and there was a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead. Now the steroid cream almost melted onto his skin. Dracula found himself panicking a little. He had kept the worst thoughts at bay when he could be busy helping Jack and he was responding. The more Jack sank into somnolence, the more Dracula was forced to dwell on his darkest thoughts.</p><p>He realized he was feeling weak, and remembered it had been some time since he’d had anything to eat himself. He didn’t have the desire, but he forced himself to consume a bag of donor blood. He needed to stay strong for Jack.</p><p>That night, he scarcely got Jack to open his eyes or react to him; a weak hand squeeze was his only sign of consciousness. His breathing was laboured, and louder than it had been. It was time to start the IV nutrients. Dracula felt ridiculously clumsy, but desperation caused him to persevere until he satisfied himself that the fluids were actually flowing into Jack’s veins. He forced the liquid paracetamol down, and could do nothing more.</p><p>By the following afternoon, the fever had climbed to 39.16 C and Jack was barely responsive. Dracula cooled him down with towels wrung out of ice water and made certain the IV was flowing. He felt increasingly helpless, and hopeless. Nothing seemed able to stop the fever and Jack could no longer communicate with him. He feared his <em>iubitul</em> was dying before his eyes. <em>Fight, Jackie. Please don’t leave me alone</em>. He couldn’t bear the terrifying, intrusive thought.</p><p>Dracula had little idea of the passage of time. He was keeping the drapes closed because the light hurt Jack’s eyes. The sound of Jack’s tortured breathing was terrible. The next time he took his temperature it was 39.88 degrees. He knew it was very high for a living man, and that Jack’s organs would start shutting down if it stayed there very long. It was heartbreakingly laid out in the papers Jack had left him.</p><p>Desperate enough to push boundaries, he went into the bathroom and ran cold water into the tub. He brought a large bowl of ice cubes upstairs and dumped them into the tub. Unhooking Jack from the IV, he picked him up, carried him into the bathroom and put him in the tub. He was shocked at how light his body was, and also how he seemed to be burning up with the fever.  </p><p>There was only a slight reaction to the icy water, with Jack frowning, grimacing slightly and uttering a single soft whine of protest. Dracula put icy cloths on his head and face, even the cubes themselves, which melted quickly.  </p><p>He kept Jack in the tub until all the ice had melted and his skin was red from the cold. The rash seemed to be fading slightly. He carried the limp body back to bed and lay him on a towel but didn’t wrap him up, letting the cool air in the room evaporate the moisture slowly and perhaps cool him further.  More paracetamol, and there was nothing to do but wait and hope against hope.</p><p>The thought of a world without Jack was unbearable. He knew he’d made the right decision to die when Jack did, even if Jack thought it was melodramatic and probably didn’t really believe he would. Now, he himself had no doubts. Jack alone made his existence bearable. Not just bearable - <em>happy</em>; and fulfilling. Without Jack there would be nothing. He couldn’t go back to his violent, aggressive, hollow way of existing. The loneliness would crush him.</p><p>Jack lay perfectly still now. His breathing was no longer loud, in fact it wasn’t even detectable. There might, or might not, be the barest rise and fall of the pale, thin ribcage. There was no longer any stress evident in his features. His body, when Dracula touched him, was no longer as hot as it had been. The vampire had not witnessed a non-violent death for centuries. Even most of the deaths he’d seen when he was alive were the result of some kind of violence.</p><p>This might be peaceful for the dying, more or less, but it was agony for the survivor. And silent, limp Jack, was surely dying. It would not be long before the beautiful body cooled and stiffened and he wouldn’t be able to bear touching the cold, alien husk that would no longer hold Jackie’s soul.</p><p>Dracula rose and went to the refrigerator. He pulled out the bag with ‘My Love’ and a heart drawn in Jack’s hand and brought it back to the bed. He set it down beside him, then carefully scooped Jack into his arms, cradled on his lap. He’d said the only thing he really wanted was to be in the vampire’s arms when he died, and he would be.</p><p>“Why did I play that foolish game with you, Jackie? Why did I never tell you I loved you when you could hear it?  I love you, so very much. I love you, my Jackie. I LOVE YOU," he cried aloud, "more than anything in my existence. I love you. I love you." His voice broke. Cradling Jack in his arms as if he were fragile as glass, he rocked him as one rocks a child off to sleep. "I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to save you. You deserved far better than me, beautiful love." He kissed the unlined, no longer suffering face, moaning words of love and comfort in his mother tongue, rocking to soothe Jack’s soul and his own. </p><p>Still holding Jack, Dracula picked up the blood and made a slit in the bag with his fingernail. "My sweet, beautiful treasure, I hope there is peace for you. I deserve none." He leaned over to suck a mouthful of the tainted blood, but the bag was knocked from his hand, falling over and dripping on the bed.</p><p>Dracula looked down and saw Jack’s pale eyes staring up at him. Had this been a death reflex, a final commentary?</p><p>Jack blinked.</p><p>Dracula gasped, then made a strangled sound of fear and hope.</p><p>"Jackie?"</p><p>Thin fingers attempted to weakly clutch his shirt. They didn’t have the strength, but the motion was clear.</p><p>"Can you move for me Jackie - please," he breathed. With great effort, Jack’s head came to rest at the base of Dracula’s throat.</p><p>It was too much. A sound rose from within him - a primitive, uncontrolled howl of grief and fear and triumph all together. He choked, gasped, and ultimately let great, gasping, ugly, noisy sobs escape into the room. He was powerless to stop them, There was a part of him that needed them to be heard, to acknowledge to himself his submission to his love for Jack, and Jack deserved to hear it too.</p><p>The voice was very faint. If Jack hadn’t been resting where he was, Dracula couldn’t have heard him.</p><p>"Don’t cry, sweetheart. Don’t cry, love. ‘s all right." </p><p>Jack’s palm rested on his bare skin. He’d thought never to have that touch again. He groaned, covering Jack’s hand with his own. He lay his cheek against Jack’s hair, still wet from the bath, and twined Jack’s fingers with his.</p><p>“It is now,” he sighed, feeling at last able to breathe again.</p><p>"Water," Jack whispered. </p><p>"I don’t want to put you down," Dracula confessed, smiling through his tears. Very carefully, he moved to lay Jack back in the bed, straightening his limbs and covering him with the duvet. He brought a bottle of water from the fridge and held it while Jack drank, slowly at first but then real thirst took him and he drained the bottle and asked for another. After he’d finished the second bottle, his eyes were a little brighter.</p><p>"Better," he sighed, smiling up at Dracula.</p><p>"Do you want anything to eat?" </p><p>Jack made an attempt at laughter, which emerged sounding like a squeaking field mouse. He shook his head, and his eyes went to the IV bag.</p><p>"You want me to hook you up again?"</p><p>"Jus’ that one, I think." He still sounded exhausted. No wonder, the vampire realized. He’d been to hell and back. Dracula re-started the drip. When things were going properly again, Jack spoke.</p><p>"Take off your clothes, and lie down here," he murmured.</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"Just do it, Big Guy."</p><p>Puzzled and apprehensive, having no idea what Jack had in mind, Dracula stripped off his clothes and lay on his back beside him.</p><p>"Now help me. Make sure the IV stays clear." Slowly, carefully, Jack began to move. After a moment, the vampire realized that Jack wanted to lie atop him. Dracula grabbed the IV tubing until he had settled himself. It was a great effort, but Jack was determined.  In a few minutes they lay skin to skin, Jack snuggling into the vampire like a live mattress.</p><p>"Ohhhh. Ohh," he repeated softly, over and over, settling in to his lover’s warmth and his scent. He moved his free hand gently over Dracula’s body where he could reach. "All I want is this. Always. Forever," he murmured.</p><p>"I love you, Jackie. I love you," Dracula told him, petting softly.</p><p>"I heard you..before. I heard it all. My heart was breaking for you. I was too weak to move, to say anything." Even now, his breath was short.</p><p>"I thought you were dying, or dead. You were so still, and so cold."</p><p>"What you did..broke the fever. I was still because I was..resting, for the first time in days. I felt cool to you because the fever had broken. You did it," Jack explained. "My hero," he teased softly.  There were a couple of choking, stifled sobs against his hair, then Dracula gave a great sigh and quieted.</p><p>It took a long while, this time, before Jack began to sense the vibrations. They stopped and started, ragged, hesitant, and at first were very faint. This was clearly tied to Dracula’s emotional state, and Jack’s heart contracted with love and empathy. </p><p>"It’s all right now. It really is, my love. Shhh," he soothed. After a few more minutes, it was definitely there and stronger, his lover’s purr.  Now Jack allowed himself to be carried away too, into peaceful, healing sleep.</p><p>                                                                                   ***</p><p>The illness of course was not so easily done with Jack, or any of its victims. Recovery was long and slow. Though the high fever was gone he still had a temperature for several more days and there was some residual pain in the aftermath of the fading rash. His body ached, the muscles and joints stiff and sore. The weakness was worst of all. Although he began to eat and drink and Dracula tempted him with all his favorite foods, it took weeks for his strength to return in any measure. For days, Dracula carried him anywhere he needed or wanted to be, and never left him alone except in the bed, afraid he’d try to get up on his own and injure himself.</p><p>It was a second bonding time, sequestered alone in their private world, as solitary and intimate as any honeymoon suite. Dracula expressed his fear of not being able to save him and of not being able to live without him. Jack made sure he knew that he had done well, and how safe he felt in Dracula’s love and strength. Jack was coddled outrageously, but having been so close to death, he soaked up the care and love like a sponge. He also pushed former boundaries he’d  had with Dracula, physically and verbally. He didn’t just think loving thoughts and try to keep them to himself, he spoke and demonstrated them now.</p><p>Jack didn’t return to the Foundation for quite a while, though he administered things via phone and virtual meetings. The terrible plague finally slowed several months later, then began to disappear on its own. Fifteen million people had died worldwide by the end.</p><p>Dracula returned to the house one afternoon to find Jack sitting on the terrace with a glass and a bottle of Scotch, his eyes red.</p><p>“What is it?” he asked gently. Jack shrugged slightly and sniffed.</p><p>“I’ve been thinking of Zev. I never had a chance to mourn him. Sort of a last farewell," he explained.</p><p>"He would like that."</p><p>"I need to ask you something. Ask you for something," Jack blurted awkwardly.</p><p>"Of course."</p><p>"You might not like it - might not want to."</p><p>"Ask me."</p><p>"I want..a vial of your blood."</p><p>Dracula frowned. "An experiment?"</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>"Yes, all right then," Dracula agreed easily enough. He couldn’t see himself refusing Jack anything any more. Later that night he gave Jack the blood, and assumed that would be the end of it.  Two weeks later, however, Jack asked for more.</p><p>"I need a certain amount to do the..the experiment properly. After I’ve gotten enough, there’s research and..testing to be done at my private lab in the Foundation." If Jack seemed nervous, Dracula attributed it to the fact that it was because he knew it was something the vampire might be leery of.</p><p>"How much are you going to need?"</p><p>"A vial every two weeks for two months. After that..we’ll talk. I don’t know enough yet."</p><p>"Will anyone else know of this research?" Dracula frowned.  Jack shook his head.</p><p>"No, only me, I swear. It’s important, or I wouldn’t ask," Jack assured him. "I can’t tell you any more because it’s too early. There isn’t enough data and there won’t be for a while."</p><p>"Very well then," the vampire agreed. His trust, however, was stretched nearly to the breaking point when he went into the bathroom about a month later looking for Jack, and caught him drinking the latest vial. He was so shaken, he simply turned and left, in shock.</p><p>Jack immediately came after him. "Please listen," he pleaded. Dracula gazed at him with a mixture of puzzlement and sorrow. He nodded, because what else could he do?</p><p>"It’s not for the reason you probably think. Not because I want to steal your memories or your thoughts, or be invasive. That’s the truth."</p><p>"What are you doing, Jackie? What are you playing with?" Dracula asked him sadly.</p><p>"It <em>is</em> research. An experiment. I just don’t have enough data yet for any preliminary conclusion."</p><p>"Why are you drinking my blood?"</p><p>"I -I’m the experiment," Jack confessed.</p><p>"<em>What</em>?" Dracula gasped.</p><p>"I don’t believe it’s dangerous. I know it’s easy for me to say don’t worry, but I’m honestly not worried for my safety," Jack assured him. "I just can’t say any more  yet because there’s nothing <em>to</em> say. As soon as I know anything, have any data, I’ll share it with you, I promise. It will probably be another two months."</p><p>"And you’ll be drinking my blood all that time?"</p><p>"If you’ll allow me to."</p><p>"Jackie - "</p><p>"Something very good for both of us could be the result."</p><p>"Can you promise that?"</p><p>"I can’t promise the result will be what I hope it will, but I promise I entered into this with belief in the hope. I’m sorry I’m being so mysterious. I don’t want to keep secrets from you. Please," Jack begged.</p><p>"I hope you know what you’re doing."</p><p>"So do I," Jack sighed. The conversation ended there, but Jack continued to receive his blood. Because Dracula refused to feed from him while he was recovering, the vampire also could not know any of Jack’s thoughts about the experiment. It was incredibly frustrating, but there was nothing else for it.</p><p>They were back to making love, a great relief and comfort. Dracula still tended to treat Jack as if he was fragile, and Jack teasingly grumbled that he wasn’t that delicate any longer, but they were both content easing back into things rather than plunging headlong.</p><p>Jack went back to the Foundation, and Dracula knew he must be working on his research. The whole idea worried him, but he knew he had to let Jack do whatever it was without being guilted or worried. It didn’t seem to be negatively affecting his health, at any rate. And one positive effect of Jack being aware of some of his thoughts and memories was that before he could barely begin to feel loneliness and missing Jack, he would suddenly appear. However he knew, Jack was determined not to let him feel the loneliness he’d lived with his entire existence, intensified during Jack’s illness.</p><p>Dracula had almost, but not quite, forgotten the research, reminded only when Jack told him it was time for another vial. So when Jack came home looking more cheerful than usual, a bottle of prosecco in his hand, and proceeded to lure him into the hot tub, the vampire didn’t connect it to anything more than Jack feeling randy.</p><p>“I’m always happy with you, the hot tub, you and me in the hot tub - and the bubbles are amusing,” he acknowledged, leaning back against Jack and letting the prosecco tickle his nose. “Are we celebrating something?”</p><p>“Yes, we are. At least, I am. With you. I hope you’ll be pleased too.”</p><p>“Are you going to tell me what we’re celebrating?”</p><p>“The first results are back from the, um, experiment.” </p><p>Dracula turned around to look at him.</p><p>“It would appear to be favorable news. I haven’t seen you this..excited, in some time.”</p><p>“Bear with me, and be patient,” Jack asked. “I should start at the beginning.”</p><p>“The best place,” the vampire agreed. His face was fairly non-commital, but he was of course anxious to learn what Jack had to say.</p><p>“Even though I’d be willing, and you know that, you’ve always said you wouldn’t turn me because you didn’t want me to suffer through what you have, as well as the physical aspects being uncertain and uncontrollable. I respect your reasoning, and I haven’t argued the point. The original plan was that we would find a way for you to age, to die a more or less natural death after I die. But we were happy traveling, enjoying our new life. I wasn’t at the Foundation very much to do any research. It just got put further down on the list somehow. I honestly wasn’t thinking about it,” Jack shrugged regretfully.</p><p>“When the pandemic began, you came to me and insisted on a way to die if anything should happen to me. I wasn’t going to refuse you, but the idea of you actually doing it has always hurt - I hurt for you when I thought about it then, and I still do. </p><p>“Then suddenly the world went crazy and there was no time to think about anything but surviving. I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t want to leave you alone. When I saw you, heard you that day, mourning me, it broke my heart,” Jack whispered, putting Dracula’s hand to his lips, kissing and then just holding it. “And the idea that I wouldn’t - couldn’t leave you was born in me. </p><p>“I remembered something Zoe had left for me. She made sure I didn’t know about it, wouldn’t see any of it, until after she was dead and she’d given us to each other. I looked at it then, but I didn’t absorb it; I was feeling betrayed, and I was scared.</p><p>“When I was starting to feel a little better after the virus and was able to look at my laptop, I remembered and read it again. I got pretty excited. She’d been working on it until very shortly before she died. It was her true parting gift to both of us. Our happily almost ever after.”</p><p>“Jackie, you’re making me crazy,” Dracula groaned in frustration.</p><p>“Sorry,” Jack smiled, moving to straddle the vampire’s legs and sit facing him. “I’ll try to leave out the scientific jargon and get to the point a little faster.” He leaned in for a soft kiss on the lips.</p><p>“Zoe needed to give me the polycythemia. It means my blood has developed properties necessary for this to succeed. She sent her research to the laptop, and she put her physical files in my office in a locked cabinet. She gave me clues to find the key. When I finally went back weeks ago, I accessed them and went over everything very carefully.</p><p>“It has to do with certain properties of everyone’s blood, even yours, and the properties of mine now. It involves mutations, triggers, absorption, chemical reactions and a catalyst - and time.</p><p>“So I started the experiment. I wasn’t just the test subject, I was the only one who could do it for obvious reasons. I didn’t take too much of your blood or too often, just small amounts. It had to be by mouth. Then the catalyst. Then I had to wait a long enough time for there to be something to see, either under the microscope or in lab results. There is, now.”</p><p>“What is this miraculous thing that has made you suddenly so pleased? Tell me now,” Dracula urged, eager to know what had brought such excited happiness to Jack.</p><p>“By drinking small quantities of your blood on a regular basis, combined with my body’s physical and chemical reactions to that and the addition of the catalyst - a common enzyme I take a few days after I drink - I will live a much longer life than others. Potentially, centuries if what we think should happen does,” Jack told him. “I won’t be immortal, but I could live hundreds of years with you, and I won’t be a vampire either, I’ll just be me.”</p><p>The black velvet eyes widened in disbelief. “And your results verify this?”</p><p>“They’re only the first results of course, but they’re very encouraging. There are changes to my blood and changes to my cell structure that show we’re on the right track and it probably is working. Besides that, I feel good - really good. My energy level has tripled in the last month. I just <em>feel</em> something happening,” Jack grinned.</p><p>“But you can’t know if ‘something’ might be bad, dangerous,” Dracula worried. “It’s too soon to be sure. My blood might even hasten your death.”</p><p>Jack stroked his jaw and pressed a kiss to his chin.</p><p>“My blood and labs are monitored constantly. I’m a pincushion now. If there’s some reason we need to stop in the future, maybe, because I will have had so much of your blood with the catalyst as well, if you turn me there won’t be a bad, uncontrollable result. Zoe believed it was possible we might be covered both ways. I think she’s right.”</p><p>Dracula sighed and shook his head, but he smiled. “I’m not a very optimistic person by nature, no matter how much I want something to be true,” he admitted.</p><p>“No,” Jack grinned in faux shock, “really? I would never have known,” he teased. “I used to be that way too, remember? But after so many good things happen it starts to change you, if you let it. Positive thinking can sometimes work miracles. Say it after me, Big Guy - ‘<em>I</em> <em>believe</em>.’  Come on, say it with me,” he coaxed gently. ‘<em>I</em> <em>believe</em>.’ “</p><p>Dracula looked into the wide, loving eyes of his beloved, his treasure, and thought of how far they’d come together since Zoe Helsing purposely mated them seven years before. He smiled, nodded, and whispered the words into Jack’s ear before kissing him deeply on the mouth. Jack opened to him and their tongues danced for a moment or two before Jack murmured “Race you to the bed. And remember, I’m not an invalid any longer.”</p><p>Dracula leapt out of the hot tub after him, laughing and shaking his head.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was originally conceived as a death story, but I couldn’t do it. Instead I took them right up to the edge, but let them come back. I was then going to end it when Jack woke and heard the ‘I love you,’ but a solution to the ongoing Big Issue angst occurred to me, so... The Romanian words Dracula uses are essentially variations on ‘beloved’ or ‘sweetheart,’ And ‘treasure/my treasure.’</p></blockquote></div></div>
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